Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Walt Wednesday

Do you remember when Walt had to get one of his back teeth pulled? Well, in case you don't, let me avoid reliving the trauma and leave it at the fact that he had somehow broken one of his back teeth (the vet asked if we let him chew on rocks - WHAT?!) and they said he needed to have it removed since the root was exposed and could lead to infection.

Whenever Walt goes to the vet he has to step on the scale (his visits are a bit more frequent than we'd like due to his allergy to bees and him always wanting to eat them). When we went in this last time for the tooth extraction, his doctor mentioned she'd love to see some changes to Walt's diet and exercise to make sure he's as healthy as he can be.

Just like with humans, no one is immune or can outrun a bad diet. Coincidentally, right around this time the nice folks at NUTRO™ reached out to us (well, I guess they more wanted to talk to Walt, but since he doesn't have opposable thumbs and can't reply to his emails I end up becoming his secretary) and offered to send some of their food to try.

Sending coupons saves on shipping costs, and since we were already
headed to the pet store, it wasn't an issue to grab the new (to us) food

We decided on the NUTRO™ Limited Ingredient Diet Adult Recipe Dog Food. It's made with 10 key ingredients plus natural flavors, vitamins minerals and other nutrients. The Limited Ingredient Diet recipes avoid ingredients like chicken, beef or grains that commonly cause food sensitivities. This grain-free food not only tastes great (or so I hear ;)), but also nourishes sensitive skin. NUTRO™ Limited Ingredient Diet Food for Dogs also follows the NUTRO FEED CLEAN™ philosophy, is always made with non-GMO ingredients and has no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives {PS trace amounts of genetically modified ingredients may be present due to potential cross contact during manufacturing}.

And when we had to feed Walt "soft" food after his dental surgery we found that he liked the 'gamier' flavors (maybe it's because we normally feed him a vegetarian diet, but he scarfed down the venison, wild boar, buffalo, etc. when given the chance). With that, we figured he'd prefer the Venison Meal and Sweat Potato Recipe flavor from NUTRO™.

In case you were unaware, when switching doggy food, you need to do it gradually. If you don't slowly swap out the food you can make your pup sick (I have a terrible gag reflex, so let's just say doggy vomit is NOT my jam). We were able to transition Walt from his current food to NUTRO™ over the course of six days with zero issues.

PS Dachshunds are prone to back injuries due to their long bodies. One way to prevent back problems is making sure diet and exercise is on point to avoid a higher risk of injury. Walt isn't a pure breed dachshund (when we rescued him they said he might be mixed with beagle, which is why he is larger than your standard wiener dog), but we are gonna do whatever we can to keep this crazy, sassy pup healthy and happy because we want him around as long as possible!

Running isn't really Walt's preferred form of exercise (he's more of a sprinter than
an endurance runner), but getting out for more daily walks is a MUST!